THE BIGGEST HEADLINES OF 2015!

WOW, 2015 has come to a seemingly quick end with a fast start to 2016 in many countries already. Here in the UK, there are a couple of hours to go and so I thought I’d make a post highlighting some of the biggest, happiest and tragic moments of 2015, many of which I wrote about on my blog throughout the year so I will include links, to truly bring the year to an end and start with a new year desiring for peace everywhere. So in no particular order…

TERROR ATTACKS IN FRANCE, LEBANON, BAGHDAD, YEMEN. ETC:

This year began with a fatal start as armed assassins stormed the Charlie Hebdo office and killed the cartoonists for drawing the Prophet Muhammad. , as well as later in the year when armed terrorists went on a major surge across Paris, killing around 130 people in Paris and injuring hundreds more, as well as attacks on a Shia Mosque/funeral in Beirut and Baghdad, as well as earlier on in the year initiating suicide bombings in Yemen during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. This year particularly distressed me as there seemed to be an attack by politically driven terrorists every second, who raged their anger on completely innocent people, justifying it with the same religion which has motivated me to speak out against them and stand for justice.

This year proved abnormally high in the amount of plane related incidents. Early on in March a GermanWings flight crashed through suicide of the pilot, killing all 150 people on board as well as an apparent an act of terror bringing down the Russian A321 airliner in Egypt later in November, killing all 224 people on board. A couple of weeks later, the Turkish military downed a Russian fighter jet on claims that it had entered Turkish airspace.

HAJJ STAMPEDE and CRANE CRASH

During the annual Islamic pilgrimage in Makkah, Saudia Arabia during September, thousands of people were either killed or injured as a stampede broke out due to poor crowd management of the authorities, with a Saudi Prince blocking many roads that day for his arrival, contributing to this tragic end to many people’s lives. This came so closely after the deaths on site the pilgrimage as a result of the crane, working on expansion,crashing a few days earlier, killing over 100 people.

This year proved overwhelming as the millions of refugees fleeing war torn Syria proved historical, with many heading to Europe in search for refuge. Some found the hope they’d been looking for, when Angela Merkel opened her arms in warm embrace to over a million refugees in Germany, with Justin Trudeau in Canada later welcoming thousands. For others, the treacherous journey proved fatal and cost their life, as seen when 3 year old Alan Kurdi washed up on the shores of Turkey after drowning in the Mediterranean sea. Earlier on in the year, the heavy persecution and deportation of the Rohingya migrants from Burma also made headlines, as they faced ethnic cleansing.

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE

In April, Nepal faced the tragic event of an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the biggest impact in almost 80 years, as well as facing several tragic after shocks. 5,000 were quickly confirmed dead, an understatement to the actual reality, with countless numbers of injuries.

In the UK, on May 7th The Conservative Party took an unexpected victory, securing almost 31% of the votes and becoming the winning party once again. While not a majority, was enough to win as the dominating party of parliament due to the current system of ‘First Past The Post’. Also, in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in Myanmar after general elections on 8 November. It was the country’s first national vote since a nominally civilian government was introduced in 2011, ending nearly 50 years of military rule.

SAME SEX MARRIAGE LEGALIZATION IN THE USA

In the United States of America, same-sex marriage became legal nationwide from June 26, 2015, when the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, leading to celebrations across the US, and some couples who has dreamed for this day getting married on the minute it became constitutional, with millions of Facebook users burying their profile pictures in floods of rainbows to mark and show support of the ruling.

UK VOTES FOR SYRIAN AIRSTRIKES TO GO AHEAD

Britain carried out its first airstrikes in Syria, hours after MPs voted overwhelmingly to authorize military action in early December, with 397 to 223 votes. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party remained firmly against this notion with opposition even within his own party, as many Labour MP’s rebelled anyway, with Hillary Benn of Labour making a historical speech in favour of the airstikes, causing a standing ovation in Parliament.

PARIS CLIMATE DEAL

At the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. The agreement sets out a global action plan to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and is to be enforced by 2020.

UN GLOBAL GOALS

And finally, in light of some of the atrocities and violence, as well as the deteriorating situation that remains in many third world countries, sparking poverty, lack of education and denial of Human Rights mainly to woman, initiated United Nation’s Global Goals which aims for the betterment of the world we live in. Read all about them here: https://bushrajalilblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/united-nations-global-goals-campaign-share/ and SHARE THEM. Let’s truly aim for peace and try and spread that to the world. We only have one.

Thanks for reading, it was probably the longest post I’ve ever done! Don’t forget to share and follow for more posts as we enter 2016! Stay safe and hopeful 🙂